Macbook Air…the good, the bad, and the other ultraportables out there

Don’t get me wrong. I’m getting the Macbook Air. But due to what else is out there, I’ll likely be getting the base model, which is about as powerful as my year-and-a-half-old $650-ish Dell laptop, except with more memory, no optical drive, three times the price and a hard drive that is smaller than my Dell’s current one but bigger than what it had when I bought it. I love ultraportables, and the Air is no exception…again I’m buying it once it really comes out…but here are some pros, cons and other options.

Pro: It’s the tiniest 13.3-inch widescreen laptop out there. Sort of like how the Macbook Pro series is the tiniest bunch of 15- and 17-inch widescreen laptops out there. Apple is just good at making things thin.

Pro: It’s the thinnest laptop out there. Even the old Sharp Actius MM10 was thicker than the Air for most of its length. The Air is a tad thicker than my current (bad hard disk’d) Toshiba R100 at one edge, but only for a teeny part of its body. The rest of the roundish laptop is much, much thinner.

Pro: It has a decent-sized screen. Personally, I can’t stand WXGA-sized 12.1″ screens, let alone anything smaller. 13.3 inches is the smallest I’d lie to go at that resolution. Surprise: Apple delivers. Note that my current ultraportable has a 12.1″ screen but it is vertical-aspect (you know, like regular monitors on older computers) and lower-resolution, at XGA. Perfectly readable, nicely sized. I like it. The 13.3″ widescreen is darn close to that experience. Except it’ll fit easier in coach class than the rather vertical 12.1″ 4:3 job.

Pro: It has 5 hours of real battery life, built-in. No extra, extended, heavy batteries needed for this one. We’re talking web browsing battery life, without the need for an extended battery that places the laptop a bit away from the ultraportable range it is supposed to be in. It’d be awesome to ditch the extended battery on my R100, but then I’d have maybe two hours of battery life. Maybe. Whereas the Air will likely get six hours if you’re word processing on the plane, or four hours watching an on-drive movie.

Pro:  Accessories aren’t overpriced. The external optical drive is $100, much less than everyone else sells the darn things for. Ethernet can be had for $30, through USB. Not fast gigabit, but it works. Oh, and if you need external display connectors, they’re included. $40 value right there.

Pro: It uses the newest technology available. A 1.8-GHz processor is unheard-of in such a thin machine. Also, the Intel x3100 graphics chipset, while not the greatest, is a good bit better then the GMA 950 that came before it. And the GMA 950 is no slouch for integrated graphics. The only thing missing is the 160-GB 1.8″ hard disk option that is in the iPod classic. After all, you have the iPod classic eighty gigger in the Air to start with, why not offer the extra capacity for another C-note?

Pros: If you’re adventurou, only ten regular phillips-head screws separate you from Macbook modding madness. Don’t let Apple tell you that you can’t switch out your hard disk by yourself…which can probably happen…though you can probably bet on voiding your warranty to do this madness.

Now to the cons…

Con: One. USB. Port. No upgrade connectivity above 480 megabits per second. None. Not even a microphone jack. Not eevn a mini-Firewire 400 jack. Yay USB hubs. I also expect a FireWire adapter to come soon. Though with a 4200-rpm hard disk maybe this thing can’t keep up with uncompressed DV video. Doubt that though.

Con: No upgrades without opening the thing up, either yourself (voiding the varranty) or Apple (which they probably won’t let you do). Yeah I know, it’s to save weight, but…

Con: No user-replaceable battery (except the above). That means, unless you have a special MagSafe power pack, when your battery (singular) is dead, it’s dead. At least it lasts awhile.

Con: Apple charges $300 to up the processor 200 MHz. IBM, who looks to have the same proc, but might not (who knows, looks the same to me) gives it for free if you pay fifty bucks to upgrade your laptop screen. I’m not complaining about the SSD ‘cuz those are expensive, but I will complain about the processor. I’ve decided against paying 17% more for 12.5% more performance on one component. At least, that’s what I feel right now.

Con: There are other alternatives that are a good bit cheaper.

Those alternatives are the IBM ThinkPad x61s (s as in model number, not plural) and the Toshiba Portege R500 (which isn’t cheaper but still in the running). See below for why to get them, or ot get them, over the Air:

R500

Pros:  It has a built-in optical drive, if you want it. It also looks to boast better battery life, by a fair margin, and has enough ports on it that you can actually do something meaningful in terms of extensability. You know, like hook up a video camera. The hard drive is also bigger…and the battery is removable. All this in a chassis that is actually lighter than that of the Macbook Air.

Cons: It’s thicker. Not to say it’s thik…it’s the same height as a dime’s larger dimensions. But still, it’s thicker. The screen is also that annoying 12.1″ model. The processor tops out at 1.2 GHz, quite a bt lower than the one in the Air, and it uses the older GMA 950 graphics system. Oh, and if you want similar specs memory-wise you’re paying more for the system. Which will weigh more than the Air by virtue of its integrated optical drive. Also, no webcam.

Conclusion: If you want dimension-wise smallness rather than sheer thin-ness, the R500 bests the Air. You can also add stuff to the R500…the Air is a closed box unless you void the warranty. The hard disk is bigger on the R500, and you get a decent aount of ports to play with. Then again, the Air has a bigger screen, that fancy schmancy full-size backlit keyboard, a freakin’ huge touchpad, and generally speaking a good bit more processing ower than the R500 It’s also marginally cheaper for what you get.

Thinkpad x61s (Lenovo fka IBM Computers)

Pros: Expandable like crazy…a docking base gives you desktop-like connectivity (as in six USB ports…SIX!). It uses “full size” 2.5″ hard drives so you can get a lot more capacity in there. Upgrade-ability  shouldn’t be a problem either. The battery can last longer, if you opt for a large one. It has a trackpoint,if you’re into that sorta thing. It’s actually lighter than the Air with the standard battery, and has Thinkpad-class quality, aka World Class. Oh, and it’s freaking cheap compared with the Air…similar in price to the Macbook except with no optical drive and a slower processor.

Cons: Larger thickness-wise than the Air, particularly with the extended battery. Which reminds me: with all those full-size components you’re not going to get as good battery life with the smaller battery…think three or four hours. You also pay an arm and a leg for the docking station. There’s also that darn trackpoint…there is no touchpad.

Conclusion: Want an ultralight, not something necessarily ultra-thin? The x61s packs similar specs to the Macbook Air, with probably a better, albeit less stylish, keyboard, for a much, much lower price. Until you add the external optical drive, that is. Then it’s just much lower. You know all that ranting about the processor in the Macbook Air? Looks like it may just be the low-voltage part that the x61s shares…for a lower price. Or maybe not. One thing I know is the Thinkpad is much more “full size” than the Macbook Air in certain components, aka everything but the screen and keyboard. Another thing: what you lose in price you lose in thin-ness, a big deal for people who want to send their laptop through interoffice mail, or shove it into a backpack along with textbooks and other such junk. But then again, you can expand on the x61s. Air? Nope.

So for my needs the Air triumphs. Whether I’ll pony up $300 for a processor upgrade is to be seen in a few weeks. But take a look at the above comparisons…the Air may not be for you.

Amazon S3 is great, but…

Okay, so you hae Amazon S3, the shiny new service that, for a mere $0.15 per GB per month, you can store whatever data you want. Transfer? A mere 10 cents per gig one way, 18 cents per gig the other. $20 gets you JungleDisk so you can tap into all that triple-redundant goodness.

But why not just use your webhost to do data duties?

No, I’m not kidding. Due to their overselling policies, web hosts will give you a heckuva lot more than the above for a whole lot less, because people usually don’t use their tons of web space anyhow. Usually their websites are maybe 50 MB in size or less. But anyway, let’s compare…between S3 and 1&1…

$3.99 – 10 GB storage, 300 GB transfer. $1.50 worth of storage,but if you download\upload that amount you’re n par with S3. If you transfer a ton of data, the webhost comes out ahead. WAY ahead.

$4.99 – 120 GB storage, 1.2 TB (1,200 GB) transfer. If you use a mere third of the storage available in your package, you’ve come out quite a bit ahead of the Amazon offering. Not counting transfer. Wow.

$9.99 – 250 GB storage, 2.5 TB (2,500 GB) transfer. Again, a mere third of storage used means that 1&1 is cheaper than S3. Again, not counting transfer. Duuuuuude.

$19.99 – 300 GB storage, 3 TB (3,000 GB) transfer. Lousy deal if you ask me; you have to use more than half the storage capacity to get your money’s worth, but if you use your full allotment, you’re looking at $45/month from Amazon just to store your stuff. Another $30 to download it, another $56 to upload it.

So how do you use your web space to substitute for S3? Just encrypt your data (or don’t make it easily accessible by some other means). Then open up Windows Explorer or Finder on the Mac and point it to your web space’s FTP server. No tools needed…or if you must, FileZilla is free on Windows and CyberDuck is free on Mac.

So the advantage here is price all around, by a pretty nice margin. The $10 package on 1&1 gives you storage at a mere four cents per gigabyte per month, and your first 10x-the-storage-amount of transfer is free.

The disadvantage? Probably speed. Web servers like 1&1 have lots of people on there at the same time, cramming as many sites on a server as they can. Infrastructure, while good (20 gigabit pipes on their US facility), isn’t optimized for lightning-fast downloading. After all, your website is just text, images and flash demos right? Maybe some PDFs thrown in for good measure. All of them rather small files. Try downloading a big file from freeit4less.com and you’ll see what I mean. No, wait…we don’t have any files to download from there anymore. Anyway, the bandwidth we get is maybe 150 KB/s. Perfectly fine for little files. But big ones? Amazon downloads clock in at 2.5 MB/s on a fast enough connection (you know, college broadband).

Also, web hosts don’t charge based on usage. They charge based on package. So if you arent using up a ton of storage, they’re a flat-out lousy choice. Using 20 GB of storage and 10 GB of transfer per month? $4.40 on S3. $4.99 on 1&1. If the files are just sitting there, $3 on Amazon, $4.99 on 1&1. That’s because web hosts are out to make money on people that don’t max out the service. S3 is out to make money on customers who use the service. That’s it.

Because of this, Amazon can scale dynamically for a traffic flood. For example, if you put up your software as part of the MacHeist deal (really good deal, e-mail me if you want more info…hurry though if you’ve got a Mac…the deal ends in less than a week) Amazon will keep charging you a dime per gig for data transfer. Web hosts will just overload. That’s where the difference lies between Amazon (and guys like Cachefly) and a regular web host: the former are CDNs (content delivery networks) whereas the latter are mere places to put your website. There is a difference in performance and the mentality behind that performance.

Cool to think about though. As for me, when I need web hosting I’ll go with 1&1. For storage, I’m sticking with S3 for the moment, at least until my internet connection gets slower when I move back home for the summer, then onto cable at my non-dorm location. Shoot…they use Comcast. But wait…I don’t need storage…I use Mozy for backup. But I digress…

My Answers to the Rep. YouTube Debate Questions

Yeah, this is very old, but I might as well post this now, rather than waiting any longer…sorry for it being rough around the edges…

Q2: Sanctuary City
I will most certainly not make America a ’sanctuary city’ country. All internationals must be here legally or be elsewhere, under law, and I intend to enforce this law. If they want citizenship, it should be made readily available to them. If they do not want the responsibilities of a citizen, and do not want to accept the limitations of other programs we offer, like green cards and guest worker programs, then they are not welcome in the United States. Simple as that.

Q3: Amnesty for illegal immigrants
I will. Again, if they want to be citizens or legal aliens I have no problem that, but they must come in by the front door like everyone else. It shouldn’t be easy for an illegal alien to work here, but hard for a legal alien to work here, either by obtaining citizenship or by participating in our nation’s guest worker programs.

Q4: Will I have a job?
If it continues to fail, you may not. That is a valid problem. However we will strengthen our borders against illegal immigration while at the same time making legal immigration a process less prone to red tape so that it will cease to be a problem. Let’s let those who are legal into our country, according to our laws, and let’s keep illegals out. If elected, I will persevere in the task of doing both.

Q5: College Rates
–don’t have to answer…I’m not Mike–

Q6: Conspiracy
–don’t have to answer…I’m not Ron–

Q7: National Debt
First, we need to kill pork barrel bills. Next, we need to reform our tax structure in such a big way that the IRS no longer exists. Third, we need to go over government services in an efficient, effective way to cut spending where it is not needed, and re-form agencies as needed for more cost-effective operation. This may mean not hiring on government employees after current ones retire. The solution here is technology. By downsizing government and government spending, which includes doing away with the complex income tax structure in favor of other more direct taxation structures, we can start the debt counter counting downward.

Q8: Top Three Cuts
First, I’d cut out the IRS by reforming tax structures as I said before. Next, I’d privatize social security, leaving it to be conducted in a more businesslike way. Third, I’d reform the education system so that all aspects of the system would be tuned for efficiency without sacrificing performance. Big job I know, but education spending can be cut while maintaining, or even increasing, performance. You just have to break current paradigms of finance in our government, and we can start climbing back out of the hole of debt. It’s that simple.

Q9: Fair Tax
I’m going out on a limb here for people who depend on taking advantage of the current tax structure, but I support it and do so wholeheartedly. Putting taxes out in the open kills overhead on the government end and anxiety on the citizen end. It’s a win-win.

Q10: Never Raise Taxes
I pledge to the people, not to a single organization, to reform taxes so that, while in a different form, your taxes will be the same or lower than what they are now. And I believe, through downsizing of government and government spending, such a goal is imminently attainable.

Q11: Farm Subsidies
This is a tough question. Looking into the situation of energy, farm subsidies aren’t doing anything to help our energy situation. Plant fuel, while better than fossil fuel, is only feasible through government subsidies, riding on the backs of taxpayers. Such a system of wealth redistribution cannot stand; I plan to, at the very least, do away with ethanol-centric farm subsidies during my term. I’m sure you as citizens, taxpayers and observers of the currently growing debt will thank me.

Q12: Lead Toys
This is a big problem due to the low quality of Chinese-made toys. The bigger problem is how we deal with our economy; it is practically tied to that of China’s. Therefore I plan massive China-ralated and generally internationally-related economic reform so China will either be forced to improve its products on a more open market, or will be forced out of the marketplace by someone else. Additionally, the best idea for making sure your toys are not harmful, is by buying American, where quality is of paramount value. But that’s a given…

Q13: Gun Control
Five words: I’ll have none of it. Second-ammendment rights must be preserved as are nationally observed right now, if not to an even larger extent.

Q14: Gun Exam
No. Doing so would infringe upon gun users’ rights. The government should not get into matters like this; at worst it should be left to the states. At best, you might walk into a gun store and they would administer their own tests, for liability’s sake. The more people who have guns, the safer our country is.

Q15: Guns You Own
I have multiple guns. However their models and locations are undisclosed and will remain so until I have need of them.

Q16: Abortion Punishment
If Roe v. Wade was overturned, my personal conviction is that abortion should be treated as a breed of murder. However others may not agree, and therefore I would leave the matter up to the states, as it is not defined anywhere in the Constitution.

Q17: Would you sign a federal abortion ban?
If congress passed such a ban, after overturning Roe v. Wade, I would certainly pass it. Though more likely the matter would simply be left to the states at that point.

Q18: On the Death Penalty, WWJD?
I apologize, but I’m not Jesus and Jesus was, thankfully, not a politician. I can’t put words in His mouth but you can of course, through first amendment rights, decide for yourself the answer to this question.

Q19: Every word of the Bible?
Yes I do believe every word of the Holy Bible. I likely construe it differently than you do, however I do believe every word. I believe it to be inerrant, infallible, inspired, though some parts are obviously, that is to say marked by the text to be, allegorical or symbolic. Again, we don’t decide, except from the text, what is not to be taken literally.

Q20: Repair Image of America
First, we must remain strong, staying the course in Iraq. Second, we must scale down our presence in Iraq as those in the nation feel they are able to grasp the reins of control with no inhibition. We must be, and must be seen as, strong, however by the same token as harbingers of freedom, not a militaristic occupation force seeking to dominate the world.

Q21: Is waterboarding torture?
I will defer to higher authorities on the topic than myself, but upon research of the topic I personally conclude that it is. I would certainly call it so if I were to be afflicted with the methods described by that name.

Q22: Permanent in iRaq
I do make a long-term commitment for those in Iraq, but only for as long as they genuinely want us over there. When the Iraqi government is set up, and they want to take control of the country and feel they have the power to do so, we must in the interest of freedom scale down our involvement there. This is the true meaning of freedom.

Q23: 9/11 Rudy
–I’m not Rudy, don’t have to respond–

Q24: Should the vice president have so much power?
The vice presidency has two uses. The first is as a replacement should the president be put out of commission. The second is as a complement to the president’s abilities, making up by his strengths the president’s weaknesses. So if I have little experience in an area, I have no problem having the vice president helping me. He’s not running the country, but he is in such a powerful position for a reason.

Q25: Gay army
All I can say here is that the armed forces do what is best for the morale and cohesiveness of our troops. If anyone of any particular persuasion detracts from this morale and cohesiveness, gay or not, they should probably be replaced with someone who would contribute to these paramount virtues of military work. Then again, if sexual persuasion does not impact a unit negatively, it can of course keep going, though I personally do not support such a lifestyle.

Q26: Log cabin republicans
I accept your support if your views on all issues line up closer to my policies than those of anyone else running for the office. However I’m not changing these policies for your benefit, as an advance warning, so you may choose to go elsewhere. If you do, I understand your reasoning.

Q27: Social Security
On my agenda is the privatization of social security to make it a more economical undertaking. Also on my agenda is reversing the debt trend of America. This will result in repayment of monies owed to Social Security. The program needs to be fixes, and so does our whole government fiscal system, and I’m ready to do it.

Q28: Space Ex
I absolutely support continuance of the space program. However this comes as second priority to getting the country economically on its feet again. At that point of economic recovery we will have our best efforts to put toward space exploration, and we will of course put renewed efforts in that direction at that time.

Q29: A-A Reps
Because we don’t ask them to, and the Democrats do. I am openly inviting people of all ethnicities and creeds to vote for myself in the upcoming election on the basis of what policies they favor most, not simply shrug me off because they’re women and so is Hillary…I hope…or they’re black and so is Obama…sort of…again, we have to ask minorities to vote for us, and so far we have not done so and Democrats have. That’s why I invite everyone, black, Hispanic or white, to look at what I stand for, and if I stand for what you think I should…and where I stand won’t change…vote for me.

Q30: Stars and Bars
Quite simply, it’s a proud token of Southern heritage. While it probably shouldn’t be flown in public places due to possible misinterpretation, there’s no intrinsic problem with the Dixie battle flag if it reminds you of a noble time, place and system, or if it is placed as a relic in a museum or book with accompanying explanation. I myself celebrate this rich heritage, though I mourn the downfalls that sent the South, and rightly so, to defeat in the War Between the States.

Q31: Infrastructure
It’s a long and drawn out process, but someone has to do it. However “someone” doesn’t necessarily have to be government. If infrastructure is privately owned or otherwise not government-operated, government should merely make sure that progress is going well on reparation of infrastructure, whether by companies, states or our own, limited-involvement crews, and offer incentives for performance that exceeds high expectations. Infrastructure is a problem, however we can fix it and do so in an efficient, effective way.

Last two questions I don’t need to answer.

My Circle Gets Better

Well, Alltel has done it again. And I’ve finally tagged a post. Geez, I need to get back into that again.

Anyhow, Alltel has extended their My Circle (unlimited calls to\from a set amount of numbers). As of yesterday, you got 10 My Circle numbers with any plan of $60 or more. Now, you get My Circle with $50 plans as well (albeit with only 5 numbers). Grabbing a $100 plan? You get an amazing 20 numbers to call, unlimited-ly. So when you get a 2000-minute  plan, you no longer need a 2000-minute plan…at least if you’re calling to\from 10 people 650 minutes per month. Personally, I can’t imagine talking more than 1000 minutes a month, but from a chatterbox aunt I know it can be done. Hmm…if her Sprint contract doesn’t work out I may have some bill analysis to do. My Circle might just be the thing for heavy talkers, who are talking to a select number of people. You know, the girlfriend who has girlfriends on various cell providers and a boyfriend who’s smart enough to just get an unlimited provider for much less money. Just throwing ideas out there…

…and back to non-tech, or not. Sorry to those of y’all who thought I’d put something non-techie up here. Now to finish up listening to This Week in Media…then to read my Chemistry text.

Xohm

I love the idea of WiMax. In fact, when  get out of college I hope to start an ISP based on the tech. I also love Sprint. But come on guys, roll out the network and do it quickly so you can beat the competition to the punch. Y’all already have a network that is just as fast as Verizon’s, and much faster than AT&T’s…and you’ve got more coverage than either of them. now take the next step…

Yes, I’m talking about Xohm, the purported $40-a-month non-contract, non-subsidized, device-centric (very cool from a cell phone carrier) WiMax network powered by Intel &co. Problem is, aside fromthe price it’s a disappointment as of yet. There are only three pilot cities so far (Chicago, Baltimore, D.C.) and the tech has to be augmented with other stuff if you want to go elsewhere and still have ‘net access. I’m absolutely in favor of $40-a-month wireless access with no contract required…especially if it’s low-latency, reasonably fast and can be used by whatever for whatever (all this is fulfilled by WiMax) but I want it where I am, and it looks to not be going that way for awhile. I mean come on, they say 100 million people covered by the end of the year or something like that. We’re talking coverage that makes AT&T’s lousy HSDPA network look good.

Oh, and the speed isn’t that great compared with current offerings. It is better, but not a ton better. We’re talking Xohm here, not the WiMax tech itself. WiMax can speed up to 70 Mbps, or about 10 Mbps at 10 km. Both ways. My idea for an ISP could thus pump 20 Mbps out of a WiMax link with no problem, assuming ample amplification or a nearby tower. Heck, you can even get a signal out at dozens of km, though the link quality would be lousy enough to make the connection unattractive as real broadband.

But Xohm? 2-4 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up. Not horrible, but a large proportion of cell phones today on Verizon and Sprint can download at megabit-plus speeds and upload at 100k+. I tether my smartphone to my computer and got 1.6 Mb/s down and about 130k up. This is from the original EVDO technology, which has since been replaced by Revision A in data cards. The maximum speeds there? 3.1 megabits down, 1.8 megabits up. Real-world speeds can get up around 2 Mb/s down, 500 kb/s up, with 200 ms latency. Okay, so Xohm halves ping times, drives up download speed a little, and at least doubles upload speeds. Anything else, while we’re waiting? Maybe more backbone lines so that the true potential of WiMax will be realized? Oh wait…that would also put EV-DO on very good footing relative to WiMax, since the real speed limit for EV-DO in many areas is how much backbone there is at a particular tower.

So maybe Xohm will start that wireless revolution and internet revolution we need so badly. Sprint can pll out all the stops because it isn’t a landline carrier anymore. But I wouldn’t bet on it at the feature and coverage level were seeing at the moment. Interesting how they’re being very conservative on how well internet video will play back on various speed connections. I know YouTube will work fine over a megabit, but they’re right about the other stuff.

All that said, I can’t wait for Xohm.

Get A Mac…or not

Okay, I’m a Mac user. And a PC user. I like both platforms equally. So I feel I have the right to criticize either platform if I want to. You know, like how my laptop, with a full gigabyte of memory, can’t be used for anthing while it’s importing DV video and encoding it into WMV. Guess I need something more powerful. But anyway, I’ll see if I can provide an answer to all of Apple’s reasons to get a Mac, tit for tat. Not going to even bring into the equation that you can get something that’s as powerful as a Macbook Pro for a mere $1400 from Dell. No wait…the Dell is more powerful. Hmph. Anyway…

1. It Just Works
True, if you have a fairly limited subset of the hardware available out there. Don’t try hooking up your Mocrosoft LifeCam to your Mac Mini…the Mac will act like it isn’t even there. Or try hooking up an inexpensive laser printer, or a Canon copier, or a relatively new HP photo printer over a network (the other end of the connection is a Windows computer, let’s say). Nothing. So it just works…if you have the right hardware, or if you install Windows on it.

2. You can make amazing stuff
Um…Windows users don’t have to buy a new version of MicroLife for $79 every time it comes out, only to find that some features have been dumbed down or require zillions of horsepower to do well. I mean, skimming is nice but I use iMovie HD because I want more control over my footage. Or Windows Movie Maker. iPhoto? Try Windows or Windows Live Photo Gallery, or Google’s Picasa2. iTunes is available on Windows, but I like Windows Media Player better. iWeb? Meet the web…WordPress looks better and doesn’t need to sit on your computer. I’m forgetting something I’m sure…besides GarageBand, which I’ll talk about later…help me someone…

3. Everything-ready
Yes, you can use your Bluetooth headphones with your Mac. You can use some Bluetooth phones with your Mac even. Oh, and you can use a few printers and scanners…though a lot of ‘em you can’t. Windows Mobile devices of course are harder to work with. Disk drives? Of course. Keyboards and mice? Yep. Can you use them on Windows too? Sure. Might require some software, but the software gives you extra features that Macs just don’t get. Or that software allows the device to work in the first place…I don’t like hunting for dirvers either, but lately I haven’t had to and finding drivers is better than not finding them.

4. 114,000 viruses? Not on a Mac.
Just wait. Once you get enough market share, hackers will start writing for the Mac. Look what happened to the iPhone. There is Mac antivirus out there, but most people don’t need it…yet. Then again, unless you don’t know what you’re doing you don’t need antivirus on Windows either. Not kidding.

5. Still the most advanced OS
The features touted as “more advanced” are available in Windows Vista, or via Google Desktop (yep, just one app) in XP. Next, please?

6. The latest Intel chips
Last time I checked, your consumer-line products tended to be a tad behind in tech, only catching up a few months after the tech is released. Pro products tend to be a few weeks ahead of the curve, true, but in the end PC gets the same technol0gy (minus EFI) as Mac, at a lower price point. Oh, and Windows isn’t optimized for a particular processor…it’s optimized for ANY x86 processor. Meaning it will run well on any computer you throw at it, depending on specs (Vista or XP), not be confined to a particular tiny subset of hardware like the Mac is. Last time I checked, there were about two dozen times as many PC makers that are major as Mac makers, because the Mac just doesn’t support a decent subset of internal hardware. That, and Stevie Jobs wants to keep a close vest. By the way, Leopard is pretty much the resource-hungry best that Windows Vista is, except Windows Vista generally has more whiz-bang visual effects than Mac OS…and the translucently disgusting menus don’t count.

7. No hunting for drivers.
Right. You don’t need to search; you either have them or you don’t. If you don’t, you’re…hmm…screwed. Yeah, that sounds about right.

8. Design that turns heads.
Well, that’s comparing Apple to PC makers, who don’t pay their design teams, or don’t have them, or something. But take another look…HP and Dell are getting better-looking all the time. Or you can grab an Acer Ferarri laptop…how cool is that? Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with how my iMac is designed, but PC makers are catching up…and they give you design choices, not a select-from-thrse-six-designs-across-our-platform mentality. You’d think that Apple was pursuing an economy of scale, which went out awhile back for high-end stuff like computers.

9. Instant video chats.
First off, you need to get an account to work with the chat program. At which point the PC has caught up to you; WIndows Live Messenger does the same thing, perhaps better over low-bandwidth connections (in my experience) with a simple download…MS could not include it due to antitrust stuff last I heard. So why can Apple bundle all the good stuff? Geez.

10. More fun with photos.
One word: Picasa2. Another few words: MS Photo Gallery. Now stop bragging and start working on development again. People aren’t going to switch because of iPhoto anymore unless they’re ignorant, and nobody likes to be ignorant, right?

Oh, and quick interjection here: my parents use Windows…on a Mac mini. So there.

11. Hollywood style movies.
Excuse me while I laugh my head off on this one. We’re talking iMovie ‘08 here? Gimme a break. Also, if you haven’t noticed, Windows Vista Home Premium (the most common iteration of Vista) also has a very passable suite of video editing tools. They’re called Windows Movie Maker and Windows DVD Maker, if memory serves me…and they don’t let you overdo your menus, then ask you to randomly put less motion in them. Geez. Oh and now I remember: iDVD was the iLife app I forgot. So what?

12. One-click websites
Actually, this is false advertising. No website can be made in a click Especially when it requires paying for .Mac to get that site up, or your webhost, or whoever. Okay, iWeb is good software, but KompoZer is available for Windows, and doesn’t come as part of a $79 suite. In fact, it doesn’t cost a penny. Yep, iWeb seems to be for people who want to whip up something quickly, but you can do that with WordPress last time I checked. No reason to switch.

13. Amazing podcasts.
Sorry, but everyone and their dog still doesn’t podcast. But for those who do this is a valid point. Then again, I still haven’t figured out how to work GarageBank. Maybe I’m dense, but…oh and you can use the free Audacity on the Windows side for this sorta thing.

14. Rock star tunemaking
Whatever. Tout GarageBand twice, willya? Still don’t know how to use it for whatever reason. Can some Machead help me?

15. Awesome out of the box.
Agreed. Most big box manufacturers love to box their computers with extra software. The Mac, or any PC that you install Windows on yourself, has none of it. Also, Dell now has the Vostro line of computers. Sure, they’re just black boxes, but there’s no extra software…and without the extra software, Windows runs nicely. Hmm…if PC makers actually got the extra software right then PCs would, too, be just as awesome.

Vista Reasons

1. No upgrade nightmares.
Hey, at least you can upgrade Vista in your sleep . Okay, I’m kidding, but my nearly-new iMac (bought AFTER Leopard came out) had to have Leopard installed twice. What an ordeal. If that ain’t a nightmare, or at least part of one, then ask anyone else who has tried to upgrade to Leopard and had problems, how they feel. Probably as Mac-headed as ever. But you’ll be able to find them.

2. You can even run Windows
Yep, thanks for finally seeing the light Apple, and making your computers 5x faster in the process. My parents are “even running Windows” right now. I “even run Windows” and wouldn’t have bought a Mac if I couldn’t have. Now stop treating us like illegitimates.

3. It’s simpler
Ooookay, if you’ve never used a computer before. But if you’ve used Windows, it’s like dude, totally radical. Oh, so you’re talking about versions? Well, if you’re a business guy you don’t want to have to pay for frilly home features, right? And if you’re a home user you don’t need business features. But if you’re a power user you want everything. Easy enough; it’s kind of like buying Microsoft Office…you pay for the features you need. Novel concept.

4. You don’t have to buy new stuff
Weeeelllll, you might need to once 10.6 comes out. If you bought a computer in ‘05 before Intel machines came out, sounds like you’re out of luck when the next upgrade rolls around. Hey, at least you can upgrade a late 1999 computer to work very well with Windows XP, or run Vista on a computer from 2003 with maybe $20 worth of extra RAM. All right, if you want Aero you need a beefier system, but seriously Apple, you guys scale down graphics too when the computer isnt powerful enough…and I noticed a few hiccups running 10.5 on a current-generation Mac Mini that someone would end up paying around $800 for, including keyboard, monitor and mouse. Don’t throw stones in a glass house, especially when you can’t reinforce the glass!

5. Know iTunes? You know the Mac.
More like, you know iTunes. iTunes for Mac works differently (a bit) than iTunes for Windows, and iTunes for Mac in turn works differently (a bit) than any other Mac OS program. I mean come on, when the “zoom: button does who-knows-what, your Windows key is nw the functional equivalent of Ctrl on the PC…yeagh. Mac ain’t PC.

6. Macs run Microsoft Office.
Right, but since the release of Intel, Office has run slow because it’s designed for the older PowerPC platform. Thankfully for Mac users, the new Office ‘08 has remedied the problem, but Office ‘07 on Vista delivers a can of whoop-you-know-what in terms of power-of-use (there is a learning curve to the new UI so not quite ease of use) compared to ‘08 for Mac. Office was meant to run on PC. So y’all Mac users just sit back with your little iWork and create TPS reports…no wait, iWork can’t do that. Scratch that…

7. You can take it with you.
Are we talking Back to My Mac? Nope, because it doesn’t work. Are we talking ultraportables? Not yet…all of Apple’s laptops are rather heavy and though they’re thin for regular laptops, they haven’t made the step toward ultimate portability…yet. Oh, so we’re talking file formats. Welcome to the revolution, Apple. Everyone else has been compatible for years…Linux, Windows, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian. Geez.

So I love my Mac. But most of Apple’s claims are empty. We just need to get the PC makers to stop shipping over-bloated, under-powered Vista machines and all of this Apple marketing is for naught, and Apple will have to find something legitimate to crow about. Which they have. It’s just not the above.

The Great Phone Wars

Well, I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile, and now I’ve finally done it: disregard same-color and refurbished and limited-edition versions of the same phone, and count up which carrier has the best selection of cell phones…

The top honor looks to go to Verizon at the moment. At the moment meaning that all carriers change their offerings on phones very quickly so a small lead might become a small defecit quickly. But anyhow, with a whopping 26 models of phone to pick from on the regular side, 8 smartphone models, 4 blackberries and 8 aircards, for 40 phone\smartphone\blackberry models total (counting the two push-to-talk enabled phones not mentioned above), VZW is the leader in choice…for the moment. Their prepaid section, however, is by no means first, with just six phones to choose from.

Second place looks to be a tie between AT&T and Sprint. AT&T actually may have more phones, and thus be first, but I was so confused by their bunches of multi-colored and refurbished models scattered throughout the phone buying page that I may have missed one or two. Anyhow, AT&T looks to have 24 regular phone models for sale, eight smartphones, five Blackberries and four aircards, for thirty-seven total models phone-wise. Pretty good, considering AT&T’s phone selection seems to be cheaper than VZW’s, especially in the area of smartphones. You can get a Treo 680 for $70 refurbished, or a Samsung Blackjack for just $30. The prepaid area is quite huge as well…again I may have missed a few models, or maybe overcounted, but the number looks to be 20 there. Oh, and a very large portion of AT&T’s phones are 3G-enabled. The same can’t be said of Verizon and Sprint’s offerings, though the proportion of 3G phones isn’t too bad on their respective services, and unlike AT&T’s network, the CDMA 3G network works in a LOT of places and is darn fast

So, on to Sprint. At first glance, they have a paltry 12 “regular” phones. But to that you have to add 10 Nextel iDEN phones, two of which are smart (one Blackberry, one Windows Mobile device that also has GSM capability for overseas). And three hybrid CDMA\iDEN handsets that give you both walkie-talkie and all the cool CDMA features in one handset. Add eight CDMA smartphones and 4 CDMA Blackberries to the mix…and a choice between seven aircards if you need ‘em…and you get a magnificent 37 models to choose from. Geesh, the choices…do I want to pay an arm and a leg for the world’s highest-tech, fastest-data, instant-communications walkie talkie phone (the Motorola ic902) or do I want a freebie Samsung cameraphone? How about an HTC PDA? Would you like that with or without a keyboard? Okay, that’ll be right out to you…oh and if you need to go overseas Sprint will rent you a GSM phone or three. Or use your fancy new Blackberry 8830. But all major CDMA carriers have that ‘un.

But wait…there’s more…Sprint doesn’t have its own branded prepaid service, but it does have Virgin Mobile, with 11 phones, and Boost Mobile, with 2. Plus, if you want, 2 more from Boost Unlimited, for a magnificent total of 15!

Last among the carriers, due to a near-complete lack of smartphones as of yet (I suppose because their 3G network ain’t there quite yet and 2.75G smartphones are sooo out of style…no wait the iPhone is 2.75G), is T-Mobile. But hey, you could actually buy one of their phones without a contract and your wallet would live to tell the tale. I think AT&T and Alltel are also okay at that sorta thing. But back to T-Mobile. They have a decent 22 phones of the regular sort on tap, plus their three Sidekick devices…which you could call “smartphones” if you wanted I suppose. They have four Blackberries (e-mail is fine with non-3G connectivity…heck, that’s why you even have a Blackberry or two on iDEN) and an abysmal (in my opinion…oh and now I remember…T-Mobile doesn’t sell Treos and that’s why there is a lack of smartphones…maybe) three smartphones available. That’s just 32 phones…and if you want an aircard (don’t know why…internet speed on T-Mobile is maybe twice dialup, probably worse) your choice is simple…there’s only one. The prepaid side of things is simply pathetic…just four phones available. Then again, their FlexPlan converts any plan, if you buy the phone without the discount, into a prepaid plan, and you can use whatever phone you want with whatever feature you want that way. Or put a phone, at full price, onto T-Mobile To Go. So you could say they have the best prepaid phone selection of anyone.

Now to the last carrier…nah I’ll put in one more below this one as far as mainstream carriers go. Anyway, Alltel is significantly lower than the above carriers in postpaid lineup, with just 13 regular phonne models, 5 smartphones and 2 blackberries, for just 20 total. Oh, and four aircards. But hey, their phones generally work well and quality should be there though quantity isn’t. And you get thirteen prepaid phones t pick from, from low-end to high-end. Cool.

What the heck, I’ll do two more biggies. Second-to-last, US Cellular clocks in at fifteen “normal” phones strong, if you call a bag phone a normal phone. Two Blackberries and the Motorola Q later…yes, just one smartphone due to USCC’s mere 1xRTT network (think T-Mobile speed, maybe just a tad slower)…and you get just eighteen models to choose from. Weak. Three prepaid phones? Gimme a break.

Last, let’s get Qwest in here. They resell Sprint. Maybe their extra phones should be credited to Sprint’s account, giving that carrier domination in the area of phone selection. Anyhow, you get a choice between nine decent phones for Qwest service, plus three smartphones, for a total of just twelve. Meh, at least they’re okay phones. Oh, and seven of them are Qwwest-only if you’re comparing the lineup to Sprint. So if they’re counted Sprint comes out as the clear choice leader when it comes to cellular selection. Interesting.

Now for the honorable mentions. Or dishonorable: the unlimited carriers. No smartphones here anymore. CricKet has just elevevn models to choose from. The same as Pocket, a Texas-based unlimited carrier that services where I live…and has about one-tenth the number of customers. MetroPCS is a little better, with 13 phones and color choice on one of ‘em. Heard of Cleartalk PCS? Didn’t think so…they’re also unlimited, and sell just eight phone models, looks like. All this looks pretty pitiful when you consider the local carrier in my area, Five Star Wireless, has ten phones to choose from, plus maybe a Treo, and their 2.5G CDMA network, while simply amazing coverage-wise, can’t cover more than 200,000 people…and I’ll bet only 10-20,000 are using Five Star as their provider directly.

Well, hope this has enlightened you to…something. Just thought I’d do a little research and see what came up, and the above is what happened. Maybe it’ll be of use to someone, though PLEASE don’t choose your carrier just because it has more hones available than anyone else. Choose it if it gives the features you want with the coverage you need at a price you’re willing to pay.

2k7-2k8

Well here I am, waiting for a GearLive video of the 1.1.3 version of the iPhone to finish loading over my home internet connection, which is actually markedly slower at the moment than the cellular connection I’ve been using the past week or so on a pretty fun Christmas trip to Florida, and though I might as well spend these last fifty or so minutes of 2007 blogging about it in general, oh and that beat 2008 that has already engulfed our nation’s eastern shore. Yep, I’m in the central time zone and for the moment it’s still ‘07.

So I found out today that I passed all my classes last semester. Finally taking the time to find the right place to look, it also looks like my GPA is just a smidgen over 2.5, so I need to do some serious A-grabbing this time around, but that should be easier since my classes are more diluted (3-hour classes, 18.5 hours total, only one true four-hour class) and more focused on the humanities etc. I dunno but something tells me that a case study will be easier than a geologic column and a problem or two on rotational kinematics. Hopefully my upcoming grades prove this out, else my merit scholarship is endangered. And no, I’m not spending too much time on business, or at least I’m not now…there isn’t much to do with a company that makes sales in the single and low double digits per day…it’s that I was spending too many late nights beating bosses on Need for Speed. Then again I actually bought a game for my Wii: Need For Speed ProStreet. Go figure…at least my Wii is in the common area of my dorm suite where I’ll be competing with people watching movies, playing Wii tennis and just plain socializing. Yay, not owning a TV.

But I digress…and will now proceed to watch a little more of the slowly streaming video in the background…

…and I’m finished watching all of it, and also finished performing a speed test that shows my internet conneciton as deceptively sprightly. Funny how speed tests do that…

But anyway I’m back home from a trip to Florida filled with short nature hikes, middle-length (if I say long the die-hards will kill me) kayak excursions and a long day at Peace River (near Arcadia, middle of the state)fossil-hunting, which was for the other members of my family mildly successful. I chose instead to listen to Microtrends in Audible format, and kayak some of the time. Oh, and we had Christmas, which was a non-event in terms of gifts (aside from a post-Christmas sweater and some on-Christmas food that did include a cheesecake) but a fair-sized family gathering. All in all a decent way to use a week of vacation time, or more like a week and a half to be exact. I mean, you gotta visit the relatives, though visiting ‘em doesn’t always mean going to their respective houses (this time my family didn’t due the uncle-and-aunt-house-tour to which I’m accustomed, which I suppose was okay). Interestingly enough though, within 24-ish hours we watched two movies down there, National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Water Horse. Both in a cheap theater where you actually got what you paid for with popcorn and drinks. Both were good movies that I’d recommend people watching, though NT: BoS seemed a tad too drawn-out in terms of plot line, with unexpected struggle after unexpected struggle, plus a villain the hero had to work with and scenes that, while markedly different, nonetheless made me think back to the original show in a militantly bored way. But in spite of all this, I’d watch the movie again, preferably with a different set of people in a slightly nicer theater. But can someone else pick up the bill for the drink costs that make ballparks blush?

Hmm, I still need to offload two Tuesdays ago’s school Christmas concert footage onto my computer, edit and upload to YouTube\burn to DVD. Wonder whether I’ll tackle that first, or whether I’ll first splice together a slick slideshow of Christmas pix (few movies…my video tapes had the concert on them) on my now thankfully four-footed laptop (thank you Dell for forcing a 2-year warranty on me).

Though, speaking of laptops, looks like I’ll have to write off my poor Toshiba R100…looks like the hard drive is failing or something, and I’m not sure what black boxes and black arts I can use to boot the darn thing up from elsewhere. Darn. Maybe that’s a reminder that the Toshiba R500 is what I need…mmm, thin-and-light performance you can just about taste…with an equally sense-able price premium.

But I’m rambling. Be back later, or maybe not. Anyhow, in case I’m not back, hope everyone had a great year 2007, and best wishes for ‘08!

DIA Free WiFi

Well, after I heard about it on the news podcasts and such a day or two ago, I decided to use DEN’s all-new free WiFi network rather than my typical route: pulling out my USB cable and tethering my Sprint HTC Mogul to my computer via EV-DO. Previously, this was the laternative to paying out for an AT&T WiFi session, which I have never done.

Though I must admit to having purchased San Antonio’s WiFi…once…ad used T-Mobile’s hotspot service at DFW.

Anyhow, to the experience at DIA…

First off, when you cconnect (with a strong signal where  am…the Frontier concourse)  you’re presented with a usageagreement, which is standard fare for this type of access. Then you’re told you need to watch 30-second ad before you can access the ‘net. My ad was about Office 2007. I already have that product so it was sort of a drag, but okay…I’ll watch a 30-second ad for internet.

Once I finished the ad, FreeFi (DIA’s underlying Free WiFi provider) took about 10 seconds to authenticate me into the system, at which point I tried to load Google. It took a few seconds (I guess some more authentication was taking place) but the page loaded…with a leaderboard-size portion of my window dedicated to a banner ad and some info about FreeFi and DIA.

Interestingly, I’m using Firefox 3 Beta 1 and right now I’m surfing ad-free on the second tab I opened. And sometimes on other tabs. Maybe they only show ads sometimes. Interesting. Also, FreeFi isn’t losing anything; the ads I was seeing were public service announcements about whatever…you know, the ones form the Ad Council…

Which seems to remind me almost exactly of…NetZero. Remember that old dialup provider? You watched an ad while it was dialing in, then you had an ad banner running ac`ross the top  of the screen. There was software on your computer, so it was independent of your browser window. Whereas this system doesn’t install any software so the ads are just a frame on the top quarter of your web browser. But really it’s almost EXACTLY the NetZero concept. But hey, if it gives them enough money to run WiFi, so be it.

Speaking of money, maybe they should offer a non-ad version for a little extra. And offer download priority to those users. I don’t think ad-supported WiFi for free is perfect, but anyhow…on to the speeds…

I went to SpeedTest.net and honestly the connection seems to still be your typical T1…except with the FreeFi system sopping up some ping time to do all that ad servng. And of course there are tons of people using it, because lots of people come to airports with WiFi-enabled laptops these days, and if there’s free WiFi people tend to use it. So my download speed was around 490-500 kb/s while uploads were around 500-750 kb/s. Definitely not capped, and definitely a T1, with definitely many people using it. Okay, maybe it was capped at 512/768 but I doubt it. Anyhow, the last piece of the equation, latency, was about 150 ms.  I also looked at SpeedTest.net’s results comparisons…looks like they might have multiple T1s or such because some people have broken 1.5 Mb/s on the upload. Though on downloads the average is 500 kb/s, ranging between about 375 and 650. Uploads vary wildly between 200 kb/s and 2.2 Mb/s. Latency goes from about 100 to 210 ms, with the average being, again, about 150. In short, don’t expect stellar network performance, but it is generally better than what you’d get with cellular internet and can be used for stuff like YouTube  with reasonable ease.

So I can see why DIA WiFi usage increased tenfold because of ths introduction of free public WiFi (and we’re not talking about that stupid point-to-point network that keeps floating around). Though it does take a little while to get online, you do have banner ads when you’re online, and performance, particularly latency, isn’t that amazing, it is free and decent enough that I may well not chose to break out my cell phone for tethering, even though my download speeds on EV-DO might be a tad faster, latencies would be similar, and ads would be nowhere to be found…at least, not from my ISP. Now to get San Antonio and Austin airports to follow suit…

Mentioned in PCWorld Blogs!

Check this out…

http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/005994.html

Yes, you clicked correctly. I’ve gotten over 100 visits now to Go4Prepaid, at the below page, from this entry.

http://g4pp.blogspot.com/2007/07/iphoneon-gophone-yep-it-can-be-prepaid.html

Very, very cool. And no, I didn’t pay the author, but I sure did thank him a few minutes ago via his contact form for the plug. Needless tosay, I feel rather special right now . Then again I’m sure that my being on the front page of Google results for various cell phone models helps. Along withhaving the site for about two and a half years now. I feel so proud to see that about 2\3 of my site hits on Go4Prepaid come from Google, with no payment required, so people are generally finding what they’re looking for. Amazing.

Well, time for a shower and then bed. Chemistry homework, as well as a earth science paper and a lot of studying for finals, ca cait till tomorrow.